A few days ago in a different thread I mentioned that it made sense (to me) that filler could/would act as a defacto "Gas Check". I made this statement after veiwing high speed video of a BP gun being fired and noticing that a LOT of gas exits the barrel long before the projectile. To me it would stand to reason that if you could keep that gas or a portion of it behind the projectile instead of in front of it, you would get a higher muzzle velocity. How much higher I didn't have a clue, so off to my favorite box canyon down the road with the chronograph I went.
All shots were fired from a Pietta 1860 Sheriff Model with a 5" barrel. The charge was 30gr 3f Goex by weight and the rounds that used filler had 10gr by volume of Cornmeal. I will be repeating this test with a Dragoon as well, but the preliminary results do show that filler does appear to increase muzzle velocity slightly, in this case it was an average of 5%. Granted that doesn't sound like much but as the Mythbusters say "It's a result".
Average Muzzle Velocity without filler: 727 fps with Muzzle Energy of 164 ft. lb.
Average Muzzle Velocity with filler: 764 fps with a Muzzle Energy of 181 ft. lb.
I'm thinking a longer barrel could do one of several things, like prove or disprove the theory. If it proves the theory I'm thinkin' that the results will probably be more pronounced.
If a longer barrel dis-proves the theory, then I'll probably just go lie down by my dish until I'm struck by yet another epiphany.
All shots were fired from a Pietta 1860 Sheriff Model with a 5" barrel. The charge was 30gr 3f Goex by weight and the rounds that used filler had 10gr by volume of Cornmeal. I will be repeating this test with a Dragoon as well, but the preliminary results do show that filler does appear to increase muzzle velocity slightly, in this case it was an average of 5%. Granted that doesn't sound like much but as the Mythbusters say "It's a result".
Average Muzzle Velocity without filler: 727 fps with Muzzle Energy of 164 ft. lb.
Average Muzzle Velocity with filler: 764 fps with a Muzzle Energy of 181 ft. lb.
I'm thinking a longer barrel could do one of several things, like prove or disprove the theory. If it proves the theory I'm thinkin' that the results will probably be more pronounced.
If a longer barrel dis-proves the theory, then I'll probably just go lie down by my dish until I'm struck by yet another epiphany.